Flowering flowers

Gerbera is a genus of ornamental flower from the sunflower family (Asteraceae). Gerbera was named in honor of the naturalist Traugott Gerber.

Gerbera species bear a large capitulum with striking, two-lipped ray florets in yellow, orange, pink,red or white colors. The capitulum, which has the appearance of a single flower, is actually composed of hundreds of individual flowers. The morphology of the flowers varies depending on their position in the capitulum.

It has around 30 species in the wild, extending to tropical Asia, Madagascar,Africa, and America. The first scientific description of a Gerbera was made by J.D. Hooker in Curtis’s Botanical Magazine in 1889 when he described Gerbera jamesonii, a South African species also known as Transvaal daisy or Barberton Daisy.

Gerbera is commercially important. It is the 5th most used cut flower in the world (after tulip, chrysanthemum, carnation and rose). It is also used as a model organism in studying flower formation. Gerbera contains naturally occurring coumarin derivatives.

Gerbera is popular and widely used as a decorative garden plant or as cut flowers. The cross is known as Gerbera hybrida. Thousands of cultivars exist. They vary greatly in shape and size. Colors include red, orange, pink, white, and yellow. The center of the flower is sometimes black. Often the same flower can have petals of several different colors.